Rebuild the Peckham Lido

Now this is a fundraiser worth supporting: A plan to create a 50 metre, heated swimming pool, outdoor cinema, restaurant, gym and cinema in Peckham Rye Common. A campaign has been launched to raise £66,000 to pay for the first stage of the project, which has already secured permission to use the land.

The team behind the project says:

"Buried beneath the grass, in an underused corner of Peckham Rye Common, lies the old Peckham Lido. Once a well loved 50 metre outdoor swimming pool, it served the swimmers and sun-bathers of South East London for over 50 years. But by 1987 it had fallen into disrepair and it was closed and filled in. Now all that remains visible of the once great Peckham Lido is a crumbling blue fountain.

"We think it’s time to bring the lido back again. And we’re not alone. Up and down the country, from Saltdean to Tarlair, many of Britain’s lidos are coming back to life. We think South East London should be part of this great movement to bring outdoor swimming and sunbathing back. So, we’d like to rebuild the Peckham Lido on the same site as the original, using the existing mature trees to frame the new buildings. But we’re not just creating a replica. We want to make it better than ever!"

To support the fundraiser, click here.

Stuff of note

I've been very slack about updating the site recently, apologies. Here are some of the things I should already have posted about by now:

Brookmill Park River Clean Up

Join Thames21 and the Friends of Brookmill Park for a clean up of the River Ravensbourne and its banks on April 23rd 11am to 1pm This is the last park before the river meets the Thames and was one of the first successful river restoration projects in the catchment. 

All are welcome and all equipment will be provided. Meet near the Rangers Hut inside the main Brookmill Road entrance. Click here for details.

Table Top Mountain of Jumble

Death takes a holiday in Peckham

On May 15th, Join hosts Laura-Jane Smith, Louise de Winter, Anna Lyons and David Blackwell at Asylum London, to discuss all matters of death, dying, life and living over tea and cake in beautiful surroundings.

To join the Peckham Death Cafe gang, click here.

The Peckham Rye Music Festival

Georgia writes:

A brand new independent multi venue weekend festival for London launches this May.

The Peckham Rye Music Festival will have over 40 world class artists, labels, record shops, workshops and seminars in the mix to create a fresh and exciting vibe in this ever evolving, creative and buzzy corner of London.

- 8 local venues already announced with more to follow
- Stellar headline acts from across the Globe
- Early bird tickets on sale now for £18

Click here for details. Thanks to Michael for the heads-up.

The Peckham Coal Line

From green bridges to fungal tunnels, everyone wants to do a High Line. New York's smart use of an disused elevated railway line that runs through its old meatpacking district is an urban design phenomenon, attracting millions and offering a unique experience in a crowded city.

The Peckham Coal Line is a new project, which comes closer in spirit to the High Line than any other project so-far imagined for London. The team behind it wants to create a 1km park and cycle route between Queens Road and Rye Lane. They say:

By using the disused Rickett coal sidings, which were decommissioned in the 1950’s, the elevated urban park would cut through the heavily built up ex-industrial area providing a precious green open space; a place to enjoy nature, amble, cycle, relax or play.

Users would discover local history in the atmospheric shadow of grand old Victorian arches and factories such as the Bussey building with park views towards the city skyscrapers and beyond helping contextualise Peckham geographically and historically, in a space that amplifies the seasons whilst linking our communities.

The high-line ties in with Peckham Vision's proposal for a low-line green path alongside the Bussey Building. Together the two green paths would tie into the transformed area around the planned new square in front of Peckham Rye station.

The proposal also has wider network potential; by linking two parts of the national cycle network it would be possible to create an almost continuous green route stretching from Brixton to Rotherhithe with the future potential to reach Canary Wharf.

It's a beautiful idea, still in its infancy - uncosted and undesigned - but with amazing potential. With successful precedents, an increasingly confident local neighbourhood and a relatively simple plan, there's no reason why it couldn't happen.

Right now, they're looking for support and design input, so click here for more details.

Aussie rules Peckham

If you can’t make a girl come why even bother? That always seemed to me to be like writing questions in a letter.
- Bret Easton Ellis, The Rules of Attraction

A Peckham-based Aussie Rules team is looking for players. Marianna writes:

The South East London Giants are an Australian Rules Football ("AFL") team whose home ground is Peckham Rye Common.  The club has been running for 2 years very successfully with its biggest achievements being the running of a London wide pre-season cup on Peckham Rye, playing in the social league 2014 Grand Final and winning 2014 Club of the Year in only its second year as an established club. The club is now looking to expand on its success by introducing a women's competition and setting up a women's team to compete in the 2015 season.

Australian Rules Football is played on an oval ground with an oval ball (similar to rugby) and has 18 people per team. South East London Giants are looking for women with any level of experience (never seen the game to people that may know and have played the game) to give this unique sport a go. We have a great team on hand to help people learn the rules of the game and develop the relevant skills so people shouldn't worry too much about not knowing the sport.  The club is not about winning it's about giving it a go, having a good time and meeting new people.

We are looking to start pre season training in February 2015 with the aim of playing our first game in April 2015.  If anyone is interested in giving this fun game and different way of keeping fit a go they can contact me either by e-mail (mbellizia@hotmail.com) or phone (07742802536).

If people want to see what the South East London Giants are about they can look at our club website www.londongiants.com

Late summer, outdoor cinema

Rooftop movies in Peckham, park screens in Hither Green

We're being flanked by late-summer outdoor screenings on our east and west sides.

The Rooftop Film Club is taking over the top floor of the Bussey Building for a season which includes The Big Lebowski, American Psycho and When Harry Met Sally. Tickets cost £13 and you'll have access to the new Bussey Rooftop Bar presented by Zubrowka.

Meanwhile, Pop Up Screens (who once came to Hilly Fields, before they realised its open nature left them vulnerable to free-riders) returns to Hither Green with screenings of Fight Club, Moulin Rouge and Top Gun at Manor House Gardens (5-7 September). Tickets can be purchased in advance at www.popupscreens.co.uk for £10.

The Office Club, Peckham

In an ideal world, there'd be one of these in Brockley - perhaps at the old police station, above a new bar / restaurant, to expand the local daytime and night time economies. But until that time, this is an interesting new opportunity to share workspace nearby.

The logo doubles as a rude word search, to while away boring meetings

The Rooftop Film Club are setting up a new co-working space at the Bussey Building on Rye Lane, Peckham. It's described as "a creative and inspirational space designed for freelancers and small businesses to thrive in."

The Office Club are offering a free week trial. Following space is available for £10 per day with flexible, monthly rolling contracts, covering the use of a desk, super-fast broadband, access to a private meeting rooms, office amenities, social areas and kitchen. There is space for up to 50 people at any time.

Viewings from 5th March. Register your interest at info@jointheofficeclub.com

The Yard Peckham

No sooner has The Guardian (taking a break from its war on pornography) declared CrossFit the death rattle of Late Western Capitalism(TM) than a CrossFit centre opens in Peckham.

Given BCers vocal demands for local gyms, we thought this one might be of interest - it's called The Yard Peckham and founder Zade says:

"We're opening The Yard Peckham, a functional fitness gym in a warehouse unit in Copeland park next to the Bussey building. The whole project has come about as we weren't a fan of conventional gyms and after we had finished playing rugby at Goldsmiths we needed something to keep us busy. So we started working out in a car park in Deptford and it has kind of spiralled from there.

We are currently in the process of becoming a CrossFit affiliate, once we have been approved we'll be running as CrossFit Peckham. We are looking to focus on becoming part of the community, we want to be able to offer classes and apprenticeships to kids in the local area. We've noticed there are a lot of bored kids knocking about in Brockley and Peckham, who might need an outlet.

The Yard opens this month. You can follow them on Facebook here.

The Montague Arms reopening soon

Bar top in @Montague_Arms pic.twitter.com/eITmVR8PVq
— The Brown Derby (@brownderbypub) January 13, 2014

More good news for the South East London pub scene. The Montague Arms has hit the comeback trail.

The legendary New Cross / Peckham borders pub closed in 2012 after the death of its manager and while its unique brand eccentricity was lost forever, it appears to be in good hands. The team behind the Brown Derby pub in Oval have taken it over and have been tweeting their progress here. With lighting rig already installed, the emphasis is going to be on music and own-brewed beer.

It might be Peckham's cultural resurgence which is driving this project, but it's a great result for New Cross.

Thanks to everyone on the New Cross forum for this update.

The Economist on East London Line

Last post based on an Economist article for a while, we promise, but a few people tipped us off about this one and it's relevant to London's "great inversion", as well as our daily commutes.

Last week, the magazine focused on the London Overground's impact on areas along its route and claims the TfL-run model is likely to be rolled-out to other services as a result of its success, with the South Eastern service among the most likely to be taken over:

Since it opened in 2010—with extensions in 2011 and 2012—the London Overground changed two things. First, the way that commuters get around the capital has shifted. In 2008, 33m passengers zipped up and down the service. Last year 120m did. Fully 64% of those who use the network are getting to and from work. This initially lightened heavily congested trains on the Southern service (another line running along the route) with 46% of new passengers swapping from other train services...
  
Second, areas that were once underdeveloped became more popular... In Peckham Rye, another stop on the service in the south-east, average values went up by 24%. In New Cross, also in the south-east, the average value of property sold increased by 12%. Many buyers are young professional families, says Abdallah Osman of Winkworth, another estate agent. By contrast, average property values in Highgate, a leafy suburb in north London fell by 8%, while those in Muswell Hill, also in the north, fell by 3%. As prices go up across London, younger families and rich professionals are pushed farther east... 

But the continuing success of the Overground will not come smoothly. TfL predicts that several parts of the line will be crammed with commuters by 2016... Squeezed buses and Tubes in the East End have not seen the decline of 6m passengers originally predicted. New passengers have simply taken the place of those who have swapped to the Overground.

For the full article, click here.

£10m Peckham Complex to transform South East London art scene

Peckham has been threatening to be "the next" somethingorother for a while now - mostly, the next Dalston on account of its nightlife and arts scene. This analysis also confirms Brockley's status as the new Stoke Newington - nearby but more bourgeois.

Hoping to confirm Peckham's ascendancy and their own place at the heart of that story are Bold Tendencies, the phenomenally successful arts group led by Hannah Barry and Sven Mündner, who are to Peckham what Jay Jopling once was to Hoxton. Having created the Bold Tendencies summer sculpture show (topped off with Frank's Campari Bar) in Peckham's 10 storey car park, they now want to turn the building in to a permanent art complex.

The Standard reports:

Barry and the team plan a mixed-use reinvention of the building to incorporate the existing PeckhamPlex Cinema on the ground floor. “There will be light industrial spaces, studio spaces and we’re very keen on Kunsthalle-style [independent] galleries.”

Now that Peckham is a newly desirable location (thanks in part to the East London Overground extension) the fear is that a developer could make a multi-million pound offer to bulldoze it and build flats.

Hence the pre-emptive strike. Barry and Mündner are not against regeneration but would hate the site to be cannibalised. “With the arts centre, we can propose a model that is stronger than selling the car park and generate more rates and more cash in terms of jobs,” Barry says.

There are relatively few major tourist draws between Greenwich and Bermondsey, but Bold Tendencies has already attracted 500,000 visitors in its first six years. If these £10 million expansion plans succeed, then the challenge for areas like Deptford and Brockley, which offer plenty for art-lovers, will be to soak up some of the visitors drawn to this part of South East London.

- Click here to visit the Peckham forum

Peckham Brainwrap

Brainwrap Comedy is a night of short comedy films at the Bussey Building in Peckham. The next one is tomorrow (Wednesday) from 8pm and they take place approximately every two months. Founder Adam explains:

We like to separate the night into different sections: starters, main courses and desserts. Starters are usually experiments or films with a special something. Main courses is made up of more established work, and for desserts we have a raffle and sometimes a Q&A with an actor or director or comedian who's been involved in the night.

For more details visit http://brainwrapcomedy.com/

Petitou, Peckham Rye

63 Choumert Road
Peckham

If you want a dose of mid-noughties era Brockley, Petitou combines the scruffy charm of Toads Mouth and the simple, delicious brunch menu of Moonbow Jakes

Hidden away in a picturesque spot off Bellenden Road, Petitou is friendly and unfussy. Our group had mackerel pate and pitta, roasted vegetable quiche and a couple of plates of crumpets. Everything, with the exception of the side salad (which was a little dry), was delicious, and the atmosphere was as unhurried as a little park cafe.

Greenspaces: Burgess Park

The £8 million redevelopment of Burgess Park in Southwark was completed earlier this year and has turned a large, flat, scraggy and unremarkable park framed by the Aylesbury Estate in to one of London's best.

Its central feature is a large lake which offers a couple of fountains, a boardwalk, fishing and outdoor barbeque area. The landscaping and planting from the Old Kent Road entrance to the football fields beyond the lake's far shore makes the waterside stroll feel like a country walk and the children's play area looks like it's been designed by a Mario Kart fan.

The Greenspaces map is our guide to the parks and public gardens of the area. Click here to explore it.

Peckham and Nunhead Free Film Festival 2012

The Peckham and Nunhead Free Film Festival organisers say:

The full schedule of the 2012 Festival (13-23 September) is announced today, with more than 20 free film screenings and events taking place in inspiring and pertinent locations across Peckham and Nunhead.

The Centre for Wildlife Gardening will host East German children’s classic The Singing Ringing Tree as well as Laurel and Hardy shorts accompanied by a live piano soundrack.

Ken Ashton’s 1972 documentary We Was All One, about the old Elephant & Castle community and decline of cockney culture, will be shown at Manze’s pie and mash shop, while Nunhead delicatessen Bambuni will be screening Jeunet and Caro’s darkly comic Delicatessen.

The grittier side of 1960s London can be seen in vintage documentary The London Nobody Knows, screened at bijou bookshop Rye Books, while ever-popular festival venue Nunhead Cemetery is likely to be packed out again this year for Kind Hearts and Coronets.

This year the festival has spawned its own mini festival, Welcome to Busseywood – a 16 hour film marathon held in Peckham’s Bussey Building (a former cricket bat factory, and recently home to the Royal Court’s Theatre Local programme).

The festival, now in its third year, is organised entirely by volunteers. It aims to provide a wide range of films to attract as broad an audience as possible. Last year, more than 3,000 people attended the events – including a capacity crowd at Nunhead Cemetery – and we expect this year’s festival to be even bigger. Peckham and Nunhead Free Film Festival is entirely not-for-profit and events are funded through partnerships with community organisations and other supporters. It was awarded a ‘distinction’ for innovation at the 2011 Film Society of the Year Awards.

The full programme with further details of the films is at www.freefilmfestivals.org

Peckham gives peace a wall

The Peckham Peace Wall, a vacant shop front which was covered in notes by local residents last year in response to the London riots, has been immortalised in laminate form.

The messages, which you can read here, have been captured and turned in to a permanent art installation, to coincide with the one year anniversary of the wave of rioting, which swept through Peckham on its way across the capital.

Thanks to Fintan, who sent us this picture.

Peckham Rye Victorian Waiting Room open today

IanVisits reports:

There is a hidden marvel at Peckham Rye train station, and it is open to the public on Saturday – the former waiting room. However, this is no mere station waiting room of the sort we might see today, but a vast space with stunning roof.


Bricked up and forgotten for 40 years, it is now being slowly restored as a future cultural space and has been opened for a few days to show off the plans, and the untouched roof.

The Old Waiting Room is now open and closes at 3pm. Entrance is free.

With thanks to St Asaph Roadie.

Give us the night

A long-time ago, we interviewed Liam Hickey from Greater London Enterprise about the best ways to create a thriving high street economy in Brockley.  

GLE was appointed by Lewisham and Southwark to provide advice to businesses in the boroughs, to help encourage more local employment. He talked about a range of issues, from loyalty schemes to winning procurement contracts, which we plan to cover in more detail one of these days, but he also made an interesting point about the importance of late night business to successful high streets.

He compared Peckham with Brixton and argued that the real difference between them was that Brixton had been very successful in developing a thriving night time economy of bars, clubs and restaurants, whereas Peckham hadn’t (obviously tube links make a big difference). He suggested that Brixton’s night time economy had a major trickle-down benefit for the rest of the businesses operating locally – from pubs and cafes that cater for early arrivals to shops and suppliers that cater for those businesses. Late nights extend the money-making window for local high streets and bring in new customers to the area.

Without a late night offer, he suggested, areas like Peckham, Lewisham or even Brockley are fighting with one hand tied behind their backs as the UK's night economy has grown at 30% over the last decade.

Brockley only has a few night-time venues: a handful of restaurants, a theatre, a ballroom and a scattering of pubs and bars. Crofton Park has about the right balance, but as we’ve mentioned before, when The Orchard’s full and you’ve had your fill of the Barge, it’s a long walk from Brockley Station to find somewhere to hang out, unless you fancy a quiet night in the Essence of India. 

With the arrival of a new restaurant next month and the potential to create space for a bar at 180 Brockley Road, we could be on the verge of building a decent little night time economy in Brockley for the first time, with businesses like Gulen getting in on the action too.

Late night Brockley won't just make the area more fun, but also more successful.

Music of Brockley Origin

Peckham Space is hosting The South London Black Music Archive, an exhibition by artist Barby
Asante, which opens today and runs until March 24th.

The installation "aims to celebrate, preserve and investigate South Londoners’ personal relationships with moments in black music history," and they are asking Brockley Central readers to add their memories to the map so that they can build a comprehensive record of the key places in South London for black music.

As well as this, the exhibition is inviting readers to contribute their black music records, tapes, CDs and memorabilia to add to the archive and build a history. All items are returnable.

To take part, please text the memories or objects you'd like to contribute to 07908 965 553 or email info@peckhamspace.com

Barby Asante says:

“The influence of black music on the development on popular music is often overlooked. Black music has also played a significant role in the development of British culture from the 1950's and this is a great opportunity to provide a platform for people to consider the significance of this cultural activity on their lives.”

Mayor unveils plans for major revamp of Peckham Town Centre

The Mayor of London and Southwark Council have announced plans for a major revamp of Peckham Town Centre:

The proposed £3-5m project will be funded by the Mayor’s £70m Regeneration Fund, set up to help repair the damage caused to high streets and town centres in the August riots, £20m of which was secured from central Government and the rest from City Hall.

Working together, the Mayor, Southwark Council and its partners are developing a proposal that will help Peckham Town Centre benefit from extension of the East London Line and see improvements to the platforms and facilities at Peckham Rye station as part of the National Station Improvement Programme. Highlights include:

• Creating a new, high quality public square outside Peckham Rye station - by clearing and demolishing the arcade buildings in front of the station and installing the electricity and lighting infrastructure needed to allow flexible use of the area, for example to locate outdoor market stalls.
• Transforming the plaza to the rear of Peckham Rye station - by relocating existing light industrial businesses and refurbishing the railway arches to a high standard to stimulate investment and support growth of the night-time economy.

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “The plans put forward for Peckham Rye are hugely exciting and have the potential to boost the local economy and bring great benefits to everyone living in the area. I really hope the community get behind these plans and give them the support they need to become a reality.”

Councillor Fiona Colley, cabinet member for regeneration at Southwark Council, said: “Peckham's Rye Lane was once one of London's premier shopping streets featuring department stores like Jones & Higgins, but sadly it's become rather run down. For instance Peckham Rye Station is a beautiful Victorian Grade II listed building, but it's hidden away from view behind a tatty shopping mall. In recent years we've been working with local residents' group, Peckham Vision, to improve the station starting with the old waiting room. What we really want to do is knock down the mall and create a fantastic new public square in front of the station - a grand entrance is just what Peckham needs to welcome residents and visitors alike and to help kick start the local economy."


For more background about this story, visit South East Central's Peckham forum.